[from Cowper 1849 translation, via Gutenberg.org]

Then thus Achilles matchless in the race.                    380
  Laertes' noble son, for wiles renown'd!
  I must with plainness speak my fixt resolve
  Unalterable; lest I hear from each
  The same long murmur'd melancholy tale.
  For I abhor the man, not more the gates                        385
  Of hell itself, whose words belie his heart.
  So shall not mine. My judgment undisguised
  Is this; that neither Agamemnon me
  Nor all the Greeks shall move; for ceaseless toil
  Wins here no thanks; one recompense awaits                     390
  The sedentary and the most alert,
  The brave and base in equal honor stand,
  And drones and heroes fall unwept alike.
  I after all my labors, who exposed
  My life continual in the field, have earn'd                    395
  No very sumptuous prize. As the poor bird
  Gives to her unfledged brood a morsel gain'd
  After long search, though wanting it herself,
  So I have worn out many sleepless nights,
  And waded deep through many a bloody day                       400
  In battle for their wives.[12] I have destroy'd
  Twelve cities with my fleet, and twelve, save one,
  On foot contending in the fields of Troy.
  From all these cities, precious spoils I took
  Abundant, and to Agamemnon's hand                              405
  Gave all the treasure. He within his ships
  Abode the while, and having all received,
  Little distributed, and much retained;
  He gave, however, to the Kings and Chiefs
  A portion, and they keep it. Me alone                          410
  Of all the Grecian host he hath despoil'd;
  My bride, my soul's delight is in his hands,
  And let him, couch'd with her, enjoy his fill
  Of dalliance. What sufficient cause, what need
  Have the Achaians to contend with Troy?                        415
  Why hath Atrides gather'd such a host,
  And led them hither? Was't not for the sake
  Of beauteous Helen? And of all mankind
  Can none be found who love their proper wives
  But the Atridæ? There is no good man                           420
  Who loves not, guards not, and with care provides
  For his own wife, and, though in battle won,
  I loved the fair Briseïs at my heart.
  But having dispossess'd me of my prize
  So foully, let him not essay me now,                           425
  For I am warn'd, and he shall not prevail.
  With thee and with thy peers let him advise,
  Ulysses! how the fleet may likeliest 'scape
  Yon hostile fires; full many an arduous task
  He hath accomplished without aid of mine;                      430
  So hath he now this rampart and the trench
  Which he hath digg'd around it, and with stakes
  Planted contiguous--puny barriers all
  To hero-slaughtering Hector's force opposed.
  While I the battle waged, present myself                       435
  Among the Achaians, Hector never fought
  Far from his walls, but to the Scæan gate
  Advancing and the beech-tree, there remain'd.
  Once, on that spot he met me, and my arm
  Escaped with difficulty even there.                            440
  But, since I feel myself not now inclined
  To fight with noble Hector, yielding first
  To Jove due worship, and to all the Gods,
  To-morrow will I launch, and give my ships
  Their lading. Look thou forth at early dawn,                   445
  And, if such spectacle delight thee aught,
  Thou shalt behold me cleaving with my prows
  The waves of Hellespont, and all my crews
  Of lusty rowers active in their task.
  So shall I reach (if Ocean's mighty God                        450
  Prosper my passage) Phthia the deep-soil'd
  On the third day. I have possessions there,
  Which hither roaming in an evil hour
  I left abundant. I shall also hence
  Convey much treasure, gold and burnish'd brass,                455
  And glittering steel, and women passing fair
  My portion of the spoils. But he, your King,
  The prize he gave, himself resumed,
  And taunted at me. Tell him my reply,
  And tell it him aloud, that other Greeks                       460
  May indignation feel like me, if arm'd
  Always in impudence, he seek to wrong
  Them also. Let him not henceforth presume,
  Canine and hard in aspect though he be,
  To look me in the face. I will not share                       465
  His counsels, neither will I aid his works.
  Let it suffice him, that he wrong'd me once,
  Deceived me once, henceforth his glozing arts
  Are lost on me. But let him rot in peace
  Crazed as he is, and by the stroke of Jove                     470
  Infatuate. I detest his gifts, and him
  So honor as the thing which most I scorn.
  And would he give me twenty times the worth
  Of this his offer, all the treasured heaps
  Which he possesses, or shall yet possess,                      475
  All that Orchomenos within her walls,
  And all that opulent Egyptian Thebes
  Receives, the city with a hundred gates,
  Whence twenty thousand chariots rush to war,
  And would he give me riches as the sands,                      480
  And as the dust of earth, no gifts from him
  Should soothe me, till my soul were first avenged
  For all the offensive license of his tongue.
  I will not wed the daughter of your Chief,
  Of Agamemnon. Could she vie in charms                          485
  With golden Venus, had she all the skill
  Of blue-eyed Pallas, even so endow'd
  She were no bride for me. No. He may choose
  From the Achaians some superior Prince,
  One more her equal. Peleus, if the Gods                        490
  Preserve me, and I safe arrive at home,
  Himself, ere long, shall mate me with a bride.
  In Hellas and in Phthia may be found
  Fair damsels many, daughters of the Chiefs
  Who guard our cities; I may choose of them,                    495
  And make the loveliest of them all my own.
  There, in my country, it hath ever been
  My dearest purpose, wedded to a wife
  Of rank convenient, to enjoy in peace
  Such wealth as ancient Peleus hath acquired.                   500
  For life, in my account, surpasses far
  In value all the treasures which report
  Ascribed to populous Ilium, ere the Greeks
  Arrived, and while the city yet had peace;
  Those also which Apollo's marble shrine                        505
  In rocky Pytho boasts. Fat flocks and beeves
  May be by force obtain'd, tripods and steeds
  Are bought or won, but if the breath of man
  Once overpass its bounds, no force arrests
  Or may constrain the unbodied spirit back.                     510
  Me, as my silver-footed mother speaks
  Thetis, a twofold consummation waits.
  If still with battle I encompass Troy,
  I win immortal glory, but all hope
  Renounce of my return. If I return                             515
  To my beloved country, I renounce
  The illustrious meed of glory, but obtain
  Secure and long immunity from death.
  And truly I would recommend to all
  To voyage homeward, for the fall as yet                        520
  Ye shall not see of Ilium's lofty towers,
  For that the Thunderer with uplifted arm
  Protects her, and her courage hath revived.
  Bear ye mine answer back, as is the part
  Of good ambassadors, that they may frame                       525
  Some likelier plan, by which both fleet and host
  May be preserved; for, my resentment still
  Burning, this project is but premature.
  Let Phoenix stay with us, and sleep this night
  Within my tent, that, if he so incline,                        530
  He may to-morrow in my fleet embark,
  And hence attend me; but I leave him free.